S&P puts Petroplus on watch

Standard & Poor's put Petroplus International NV on CreditWatch negative including Petroplus Funding BV's €225 million 10.5% notes due 2010 at B.

S&P said the action follows Petroplus' announcement that its bank lines have been renewed on an uncommitted basis following the expiry of its committed credit facility.

Following the expiry of the committed part of its bank lines of $350 million (which was a part of a wider $550 million banking facility package) on July 15, Petroplus has now extended uncommitted bank lines to $580 million.

S&P said the CreditWatch placement reflects its concerns over Petroplus' liquidity in the medium term. The new uncommitted facility represents a negative rating event as S&P views a sufficient amount of committed bank lines as essential for Petroplus to be able to manage its working capital requirements in the long term.

Furthermore, S&P said it expects Petroplus' financial performance for the second quarter of 2003 to be weaker than for the first quarter, mainly due to a one-month shutdown of the company's best-performing asset, the Switzerland-based Cressier refinery, for maintenance.

Cash flow is also expected to be affected in the second quarter by declining refining margins, S&P added.

Moody's puts Furukawa on review

Moody's Investors Service put Furukawa Co., Ltd.'s Ba3 senior unsecured long-term debt on review for possible downgrade.

Moody's said the action reflects its growing concern that Furukawa's profitability and financial profile may remain under pressure, mainly due to ongoing operational problems at Port Kembla Copper, Pty. Ltd., its Australian copper smelting and refining facility.

The recovery in Furukawa's operating performance has been delayed as a result of significant losses at its metals division, as PKC continues to face operational difficulties, Moody's said. In addition, while the current restructuring measures have contributed to restoring the profitability of the company's machinery division, Moody's still has some concerns over earnings stability in this area, given the weak state of domestic demand and severe competition on overseas markets.

S&P raises Ecopetrol outlook

Standard & Poor's raised its outlook on Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos (Ecopetrol) to stable from negative. The foreign-currency corporate credit rating is BB.

S&P said the outlook revision follows its decision to revise the outlook on the Republic of Colombia to stable from negative.

Ecopetrol's ratings reflect the strong implicit support of the government of the Republic of Colombia and the importance of the company to public sector revenues and to the economy of the republic, S&P said. These strengths are offset by the depletion of the country's oil reserves and the difficult security environment in Colombia.

The decision of the government of Colombia to split Ecopetrol's activities into two separate entities has no immediate impact on the ratings or outlook. Although the decree implies a number of changes for Ecopetrol, the most important being that the company will no longer manage the country's oil reserves, the government will remain as the controlling stockholder of Ecopetrol with a 95% interest, which is a key factor in S&P's assessment of Ecopetrol's credit quality. Furthermore, the government declared that Ecopetrol's current operations and association contracts signed through 2003 are not to be affected by the decree.

S&P raises outlook on Ocensa

Standard & Poor's raised its outlook on Oleoducto Central, SA (Ocensa) to stable from negative including its $150 million 9.35% tranche A debentures due 2005 and $650 million 9.66% senior debt tranche A credit facility at BB.

S&P said the revision follows a similar revision to Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos (Ecopetrol).

The ratings on Ocensa mirror those of Ecopetrol and reflect Ocensa's ability to service its debt that is derived mainly from Ecopetrol's contractual payments to Ocensa, S&P said.

Moody's cuts ENA, Audusa, Aucalsa

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the long term-issuer rating of Empresa Nacional de Autopistas, SA (ENA) to Ba2 from A2, the senior unsecured rating of Autopistas del Atlantico CESA (Audasa) to Ba1 from A2 including its ¥20 billion 3.6% bonds due 2006, €30.05 million 5.0% bonds due 2007, €72.12 million 3.9% bonds due 2008, €66.11 million 4.19% bonds due 2011 and €180.30 million 4.33% bonds due 2012, and the short-term issuer rating of Autopista Concesionaria Astur-Leonesa, SA (Aucalsa) to Not-Prime from Prime-2. All ratings remain on review, direction uncertain.

Moody's said the ratings were previously downgraded on March 14 and initially put on review in November 2002 when the Spanish government announced privatization.

Given that the sale of the ENA group has a very high probability of completion by October 2003, the new rating levels now more closely reflect the fundamental credit quality of the ENA group post-privatization, Moody's said.

The review with direction uncertain reflects that the new financing structure has not bee finalized.

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